The night before the elections in downtown Donetsk, the people on Pushkin Boulevard appear calm despite the tensions which have gripped the region over the last month.

Euronews went to test the temperature of the electorate ahead of the presidential elections on Sunday.

One woman said, “I am afraid because it is a little bit dangerous, it is scary to go there because there might be gunmen in there.”

Experts say that the fighting in the East could mean that up to 15% of the electorate won’t make it to the polling booths, even the bars of Pushkin Boulevard are having a slow night as euronews correspondent Sergio Cantone discovered:

“According to many people we met in this street of bars and restaurants om down-town Donetsk is there are much fewer people hanging around than usual for a Saturday night, and that is probably related to the tensions existing ahead of the presidential elections.”